8 Tips for Designing a New Kitchen
According to a recent survey, the kitchen is tied (with the living room) for the room in the house in which the “most value is placed.” Between the amount of time we spend in the kitchen and the utility that the kitchen provides—helping us create delicious meals—these poll results are far from surprising.
Additionally, the kitchen is one of the rooms that are most strongly correlated to the overall value of your home. Investing in your kitchen helps to increase its “move-in ready” appeal. Furthermore, because a kitchen’s value is directly tied to its utilities and other technologies, it is usually the room that needs to be upgraded most often.
Each year, hundreds of thousands of homeowners in the United States will make the decision to upgrade their kitchens. And with more people eating the majority of their meals at home than ever before, the need for having a high-quality kitchen has become even more urgent.
Whether this is your first time designing a kitchen or you’re an old pro, you are probably looking for some helpful pointers. In this article, we will discuss eight tips for anyone looking to design a new kitchen. By keeping these helpful tips in mind, you’ll be closer to creating the kitchen of your dreams.
1. Hire a Professional Interior Designer
Whether the project you are planning is large or small, getting input from a professional interior designer can be incredibly valuable. Your interior design team will be able to answer whatever luxury kitchen design questions you might have and help you understand how each design feature will affect the overall value of your home. They’ll be able to offer new ideas, discuss current design trends, and also offer valuable connections to whatever contractors you might need. Going the extra mile and investing in a professional touch will help a good kitchen design become a great kitchen design.
2. Look for Inspiration Online
It is easy to feel stuck when designing a kitchen, especially if you are designing the kitchen entirely from scratch. Taking a few moments to look at various interior design platforms, such as those featured on Pinterest, can help you get a little bit of inspiration that can help get you started. Looking at the design galleries offered by your favorite interior design firms can also be quite helpful. Keep a notebook handy to write down the styles, colors, and design schemes you find most appealing.
3. Plan the “Unmoveables” First
When designing a kitchen, it is important to recognize the things that can be easy to change and the things that will be difficult to change. Planning the unmoveable components of your kitchen, such as the location of appliances, doors and windows, and structural features will help the other design components eventually fall into place. Generating a physical blueprint will also make it easier to plan the entire kitchen at once and ensure that any of the moveable objects you end up purchasing (such as your kitchen table) will fit where they’re needed.
4. Choose Surfaces that are Easy to Clean
Messes are an inevitable component of using a kitchen. The challenge for interior designers, it seems, is finding ways to make a kitchen that is easy to clean without losing any aesthetic value. Smooth countertops, such as granite and marble, are usually easier to clean than tile countertops, for example. Additionally, using darker surfaces (black, blue, gray, etc.) will help reduce your need for cleaning. Because of this, juxtaposing dark countertops with light cabinets is incredibly common among kitchen designers.
5. Maximize Use of Light
Light is one of the most important elements of interior design. As one designer rightfully observes, “Natural or man-made light is a critical aspect of any space. Without it, all of the other elements would not be able to shine to their full potential.” There are many ways you can add more light to your kitchen, including additional built-in overhead lights, kitchen lamps, underlighting, and adding new doors and windows. In addition to thinking about where the light will be coming from, you should also consider how the light will be distributed.
6. Find Ways to Increase Surface Area
One of the most common complaints people have about their kitchen is that there isn’t enough room for cooking. Fortunately, there are many ways that designers can increase their kitchen’s surface area and make cooking a bit less cramped. Adding free-standing shelves, for example, can help you migrate the objects currently on your counter to somewhere they will be less in the way. Additionally, an incredible 61 percent of new kitchen designers plan to install a kitchen island.
7. Plan for the Future
About half of American households have at least one smart device, and this portion has been steadily growing with each passing year. Smart technology can help make our lives easier and make our kitchens a bit more functional. In the kitchen, your refrigerator, your oven, your lights, and many other devices can usually be incorporated into a comprehensive smart home system. Adding smart tech will help your kitchen maintain its usefulness for many years to come.
8. Think about Property Value
While we often invest in new kitchens for our own daily benefit, an investment in a new kitchen is also something that can directly increase your property values. When making major changes to your kitchen, ask yourself, “How will this affect the selling value of my home?” In some cases, the cost of the entire project might be offset by the property value increase. Your interior designer will be able to help you determine the connection between property value and new features.
Conclusion
With a new year around the corner, many people are resolving to finish some major home improvement projects. As the most valued room in the home, the kitchen is a great place to get started. If you are in Colorado, there is exquisite kitchen design in Denver. By remembering these helpful tips, you’ll be able to create a kitchen that is valuable, useful, and beautiful.